How did Puritan women live out their lives in the seventeenth century?

Question

Include information about what their rights were, how they were treated, and what role they played in their society.

Answer 1

Marilyn Yalom gave a nice picture of Puritan dissenter Anne Hutchinson (135-136). Also on 135 is a description of how women could and often did initiate divorces in New England. Women were, as women usually always are, very busy and taking care of family before modern conveniences was a more than full time job.

Westerkamp describes the then-unusual autonomy that women had. Westerkamp went on to describe that women initially had few rights and legal standing on their own, that changed and eventually even women preachers and church planters were seen in the colonies, something impossible in England for a long time yet.

As always, some women were in families that were quite well-off, and Karen Kupperman described (around p. 160) how wives brought in maids to help them out (and of course help with the disparity of numbers as men outnumbered women and some of the tradesmen brought in to work often had wives that didn't want to follow (p. 159).

To borrow a line from Dickens later, to modern American women, "it was the worst of times" but for English women of the day in regard to rights and liberties "it was the best of times."

Answer 2

The main role played by 17th century Puritan women was to raise children and teach them values. They taught their kids about God and the Bible. They cooked, cleaned, and sewed. This is what they were expected to do by their husbands and society. If a woman deviated from this standard, she was ostracized by her fellow citizens. Have you read The Scarlet Letter? In this book, a Puritan woman named Hester Prynne is forced to wear a scarlet piece of fabric in the shape of an "A," for adulterer. This is the treatment women received if they did not follow the "rules." Basically, if you're a female, you wouldn't want to be a 17th century Puritan.

Answer 3

A lot like Moslem women in many countrys today. As second class citizens.